Fellow Church People

[RedPiggy]

dwayne1115: I have lost my faith! I have had a very long and hard spiritual life, and that has in return hurt my church attendance to where me and my family never go.
Today (12/08/2013) I want to work on changing that, and that is where you all come in. I am going to make a promise not only to God, and my family, but to the fellow church goers of Muppet Central. That I will do everything within my powers to be in church, when ever their doors are open. What I need from you all is encouragement and prayers. Let's start talking about church again, and hopefully not argue about issue, but lift each other up in the faith!
Thank You all!

If you've lost your faith, try the couch cushions. I lose lots of things there.

I'm not much of a church person myself, not just for spiritual reasons but I've never been very social, anyway.

Still, if you need such things to feel whole spiritually, I will keep you in my thoughts so that you may find one that promotes the quality of your soul.

Something I have known about, but never new the Bible had so much on the subject.

Oh, boy, does the bible have lots of subjects. No wonder degrees in studying take so long.

I tend to hang out here. "Discuss Christianity" can get, well, you know ... but there are boards for only people of the relevant religion, and lots of support boards.

 

[dwayne1115]

Amen to that!

Sadly, I don't go to Sunday Sschool, but I still go to worship services nowadays. Once I am done with school by tomorrow, then I will do some Bible reading, because I want to think about the coming of the birth of Jesus Christ.and advent. This week is supposed to be about peace.

Amen! I love this time of year to reflect on the birth of Christ. Someone once told me that they did not like Christmas much, and liked Easter the most. I told them, that you could not have an Easter without a Christmas. Meaning Jesus had to be born, before he could have died and have arise from the grave.

Tonight the song "It is Well With my Soul" was sung so wonderfully, and I have loved that song for many years. My wife and I even sung it at our wedding. Tonight however I really heard the song for the first time. It's message hit me like a sack of bricks, and I am so thankful for it. For so long I have been trying to hit my problems on my own, and alone. I would sit and think about what path me and my family would take, and then act on it. I have to start saying it is well with my soul, and start letting God fight my battles for me. I learned tonight that I can not keep going in the direction I have been going, and start letting God show what direction He wants me to go in!

 

[dwayne1115]

Don't be too hard on yourself, everyone goes through this, and you said you're having a tough time right now with job hunting and all.

Yes your right I have been struggling finding a job, but that should have made my church attendance and my faith grow. Instead I blamed God, and said ok time for me to take over. Which I tried to do. I tried going on my own way trying to make the right choices and forgetting about God. When I started to do that things where going great until they where not. I started slowly going on down hill, and the worst part about it was I was dragging my family along for the ride.
So I started praying again but they where more like "Well God now look what you have done." Pretty soon it started to feel like God had left me, and was not hearing my prayers. Looking back now I can see why, and so last night I asked the Lord to forgive me, and asked him no I begged him to help guide me once again.
Kind of like the song "Jesus Take the Wheel" cause I really can't keep going in the direction I have been.

 

[CensoredAlso]

God knows you are only human.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Great testimony, dwayne1115. Keep looking to Christ and trusting Him- He still has a good plan in mind. (Jeremiah 29:11) And He will direct your paths when you trust Him to lead (Proverbs 3:5-6) and He will fulfill His purposes for you. (Psalms 138:8) Particularly in times of doubt, I find it's very helpful to remember God's promises and meditate on His Word.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Yes your right I have been struggling finding a job, but that should have made my church attendance and my faith grow. Instead I blamed God, and said ok time for me to take over. Which I tried to do. I tried going on my own way trying to make the right choices and forgetting about God. When I started to do that things where going great until they where not. I started slowly going on down hill, and the worst part about it was I was dragging my family along for the ride.
So I started praying again but they where more like "Well God now look what you have done." Pretty soon it started to feel like God had left me, and was not hearing my prayers. Looking back now I can see why, and so last night I asked the Lord to forgive me, and asked him no I begged him to help guide me once again.
Kind of like the song "Jesus Take the Wheel" cause I really can't keep going in the direction I have been.

You're exactly where I was in my life about 15 years ago. When you try to call all the shots on your own and not have God in your life, it's just a matter of time before you find yourself in a dead end. And blaming God for your misfortunes, or accusing him of leaving you doesn't work either. I was the same way. He didn't leave me, I left him.

God wants to be part of your life, he wants you to come to him with your troubles, he wants to be there with you so you can have a fulfilling, satisfying life. And he'll help you through your troubles, like he has with mine. He doesn't wave a magic wand and SHAZAM! your troubles are over, but he'll give you the strength and courage to work through them.

I'll post more on this later, because I have plenty more I want to share.

 

[dwayne1115]

You're exactly where I was in my life about 15 years ago. When you try to call all the shots on your own and not have God in your life, it's just a matter of time before you find yourself in a dead end. And blaming God for your misfortunes, or accusing him of leaving you doesn't work either. I was the same way. He didn't leave me, I left him.

God wants to be part of your life, he wants you to come to him with your troubles, he wants to be there with you so you can have a fulfilling, satisfying life. And he'll help you through your troubles, like he has with mine. He doesn't wave a magic wand and SHAZAM! your troubles are over, but he'll give you the strength and courage to work through them.

I'll post more on this later, because I have plenty more I want to share.

I can't wait to hear more, because I think as a part of my crawl back it would help to hear how someone else has gone through it and came out on the other side.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Another thing that definitely helps is finding the right church. You can read the Bible on your own (it'll take about a year if you read a chapter or two a day), but it's better to be around like-minded people, a lot of whom probably felt exactly like you.

It doesn't always work going to the same church your family always went to. When I was little, I HATED going to church. In my devout Catholic family, Sunday you went to church, period. And that meant little 4-year-old me getting stuffed in a suit and tie, and listening to Father DaVini who was older than dirt, MUMBLE, sometimes even in Latin. And there was no Sunday school, no children's worship, nothing to engage the kiddies. So you were expected to shut up, sit still, and listen to the mumbling priest. And somehow God will find his way into your heart.

So like some others around here, my childhood memories of church were not pleasant. Until I was a little older, and this little Baptist church was open for Bible school in the summer. My mom let me try it there, and I LOVED it! I finally got to understand a few Bible stories, understand a little about God's love, and best of all, we got to sing our heads off. I was in heaven.

But come schooltime, it was back to the mumbling priest. Following the same Catholic rituals, and as I grew older the message became clearer, "You're a miserable sinner". Never once did they ever mention about God's grace, or what Jesus died for. It was a very bleak picture, and left me feeling empty for the longest time.

Then in 2001, my neighbor who played piano, got into talking about music. I mentioned I played bass in a band, and her eyes lit up. "YOU PLAY BASS??? OUR CHURCH NEEDS A BASS PLAYER!!!"

Turns out it was the same church I went to Bible school when I was six. Now it had a contemporary Christian service, playing contemporary songs with electric guitars and drums... and they needed a bass man! I met the pastor, and we hit it off immediately. I got to sit in with the band, and knew this was the place for me.
Been playing every Sunday for the last 12 years, but more importantly, I finally got to have a relationship with Jesus, and it has done wonders in my life. I'm more patient and less angry than I used to be, I'm part of the pastor's Bible study group, I serve on the church staff, and found a peace I never thought possible.

There are still ups and downs in my life, but I'm more satisfied now than I've ever been. And found a dinky little church that has become home for me, and a number of people who are family to me.

I hope everybody gets to find the same measure of peace in their lives. Life is too short (or it can be too long) to be burdened with a closed heart when it doesn't need to be.

 

[dwayne1115]

Wow Thank you so much for sharing your story! That is so impairing and encouraging. I have kind of the same kind of story as you but I was in a church that I did want to go to, but the teaching there was just harmful. I was never really taught about God's love, but just about how much of a sinner I was, and more importantly how much a sinner everyone else was.
Thank you once again for that wonderful testimony.

 

[dwayne1115]

The Lord has certainty blessed me in the week of me coming back to him. The most importantly is that he has giving me a job! I have been without work for over six months, and just in the past two days the Lord has blessed me with a job, in one of the most unlikely of places. Back in 2000 I started working at a Goodwill store in Tennessee, and there is where I really became a man. It is also where I was introduced to the world, and started to slowly fall back on the Lord. On Wednesday (12/11/2013) The Lord guided me to the local Goodwill website, and look for a job. They had just posted for a few new listings, and I applied for just about every one of them. I applied around 6AM that morning, and then tried to applying other places. By 12PM the Goodwill store called me, and set up an interview for Friday (12/13/2013). The interview went very well and both managers I spoke with really liked who I was, they told me that they had a few more people to interview and if they liked what they saw I would get an e mail by Wednesday. So I went home feeling real good about the interview, but still feeling a little unsure. When I got home I checked my e mail, and low and behold I had already gotten the e mail they told me about! They really wanted me badly! So now today I have to go in and take a test, and answer a few questions and then start in a week! The Lord gave me this job, and for that I am forever grateful.